


These Midnight Excursions

by semperama



Series: Tumblr Ficlets - Pinto [19]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Beaches, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Sneaking Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 09:06:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11506164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semperama/pseuds/semperama
Summary: On the first night of the press tour, Chris and Zach sneak down to the beach.





	These Midnight Excursions

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a prompt asking for Zach "accidentally" proposing to Chris on the Beyond press tour.

Their hotel is walking distance from the beach. That should be a complete non-starter, given that it’s far from warm outside, and yet somehow Zach isn’t surprised when he hears a knock at his door at midnight and opens it to see Chris a t-shirt and swim trunks, a towel draped over one arm.

“You got mad when I went to the beach without you last time,” Chris says, “so come on.”

A flurry of protests leave Zach’s mouth, but Chris bats them all away easily. “Someone will see.” “No they won’t. It’s dark.” “Are we even allowed to swim this late?” “Probably not, but I just want to take a quick dip.” “It’s too cold.” “Oh come on, you baby.” Eventually, Zach has no choice but to give in. It’s inevitable, anyway. He cares much more about collecting moments with Chris than he does about being warm and dry and staying out of trouble. Every moment they aren’t together is a moment wasted.

“I don’t have a suit,” Zach admits.

Chris shrugs, leers, his eyes darkening in a way that brings explicit memories to the forefront of Zach’s mind. “Wear your skivvies then.”

Zach turns away before Chris can see him blush, going to grab an undershirt and a clean pair of boxers from his suitcase. This newfound confidence of Chris’s gets to him more than he wants to let on; it’ll make Chris’s head swell if he does. He changes in the bathroom, then comes out and grabs a pair of basketball shorts to preserve some modicum of his modesty.

They walk down the hall to the elevator in silence, and Zach feels a little like a teenager sneaking out of the house. Not that he ever snuck out as a teenager. Maybe he’s making up for it now. It’s never too late, right? And Chris brings it out in him—that recklessness, that sense that nothing can touch them, that they exist in a world apart. When they walk through the lobby, the receptionist at the front desk doesn’t even look at them, like they aren’t even there, and it emboldens Zach even more. He lets his hand brush Chris’s and smiles when their eyes meet.

A narrow sidewalk winds its way through the trees and shrubs, dense hotel landscaping that eventually gives way to and unblemished stretch of sand, pale in the moonlight. The ocean is dark and broken by jagged whitecaps. It’s gorgeous as long as he standing on the beach, but the thought of actually going into the black water makes him feel uneasy.

“Aren’t there, like, sharks here?” he asks, his fingers going to Chris’s forearm to stop him.

Chris laughs and puts his hand over Zach’s, giving his fingers a squeeze before prying them away. “You can wait here if you want.”

But that’s a challenge, and Zach can’t resist a challenge. He rolls his eyes and sheds his shorts, but leaves his shirt on. Chris peels off his own tee, then kicks off his sandals and takes off for the water at a dead run. He’s already waist-deep in the water by the time Zach even gets moving.

It’s cold, too cold. By the time Zach is in up to his calves, he already regrets it. Well, sort of regrets it. When Chris comes up behind him, wraps his arms around his waist, and yanks him down into the water, it’s hard to feel too regretful at all. He coughs and sputters and laughs, his hands curling around Chris’s biceps, which are flexed and hard as iron with the effort of keeping Zach’s squirming body close. His head goes under once, then he rolls their bodies and dunks Chris in return, their legs tangling and sliding against each other. One warm thigh slides between Zach’s, and it makes his entire body hot, the coldness of the water fading away to nothing.

Somehow, they make it upright again, so the waves are lapping around their waists. Zach’s nose is tucked into Chris’s neck, where he can smell salt and taste it on his lips. Chris’s hands are at his hips, holding him still, holding him steady.

“You’re a lunatic,” Zach says, and when his teeth chatter as he says it, he realizes anew how cold he is. “You’re completely fucking nuts. Satisfied now?”

“Yeah,” Chris sighs. “Yeah, come on.”

They wade back to the beach, and their fingers find each other and thread together once their feet hit the sand. Chris breaks into a jog and drags Zach along. They’re both still smiling and out of breath once they reach the towel Chris left lying in the sand. Chris lets go of Zach so he can pick it up and beat the sand off it, and Zach peels his sodden boxers away from his legs, checking surreptitiously to make sure everything is still tucked away where it should be. He ignores the knowing, sideways look Chris shoots him.

Chris scrubs the towel over his hair, making it stand up at all angles in a way that is far too attractive. When he notices Zach staring at him, still smiling, he pauses, a mischievous glint in his eye. Then, he grabs one end of the towel and whips it behind Zach’s back, catching it with the other hand on the other side of him and using it to drag him in close. It’s a smooth-as-fuck move. It leaves Zach breathless, pressed tight against Chris’s chest with their noses inches apart. Again, Zach finds himself suffused with heat, though it does little to stop his shivering.

“I love you,” Chris says, his voice going low and rough. He’s been saying it more lately. Whispered it in Zach’s ear when they first greeted each other yesterday. Murmured it countless times on the phone over the past couple weeks. They’ve both had a good reminder not to take each other for granted. It seems impossible now that they managed to spend as much time apart in the past few years as they did. It should have been agony. The idea of it happening again is agony. Zach doesn’t want to give this up, these midnight excursions, the expression on Chris’s face when he tells him he loves him.

Unexpectedly, tears start stinging Zach’s eyes. He’s been doing this a lot lately too. Emotion wells up at odd times, makes him say and do stupid things. Like this:

“Marry me.” His voice is all snarls and brambles, hurting him as it claws its way out of his throat. “Marry me, Christopher. I don’t want to go back to New York without you.”

Somehow, Chris doesn’t even look surprised. In fact, his grin widens, the smile lines at the corners of his eyes deepening. He drops the towel and wraps his arms low and tight around Zach, drawing him in even closer, humming with contentment.

“You really think you’re going to be the one to make an honest man out of me, huh?” he says, amusement in his voice.

“Yeah,” Zach breathes. It’s not a statement; it’s a prayer.

Chris lets out a little rumble of a laugh and brushes his mouth across Zach’s. “You got a ring for me?”

Zach’s fingers fly together behind Chris’s back, and he starts tugging at the ring on his finger, the one Leonard gave to him, but before he has a chance to get it off, Chris is laughing again and shaking his head, grazing their lips together again, again, again.

“Keep it,” he says. “Wear it.”

Zach closes his eyes. He can’t get a good breath. “So…so…is that a yes?”

This time, Chris presses their mouths together with intent, like their sealing an agreement. One hand comes up to brush back Zach’s damp hair and then cup the side of his face. When they break apart, Chris is smiling like he is the one who proposed, like he’s caught Zach in his snare.

“Yeah, baby,” he whispers, “let’s get hitched.”

Zach whoops, heedless of the hotel full of people that might hear them, the authorities that might come and kick them off of a beach they aren’t supposed to be on. He throws his arms around Chris’s neck and kisses him until he can’t taste salt water anymore. They cling to each other, swaying to the soundtrack of the waves, and Zach doesn’t stop shaking, _can’t_ stop shaking, no matter how tightly Chris holds him.


End file.
